3D printed gel electrophoresis device coupling with ICP-MS for online separation and detection of metalloproteins.

We successfully developed a strategy to combine a customized gel electrophoresis device with ICP-MS for online separation and detection of metalloproteins. The self-designed horizontal column gel electrophoresis device was rapidly and easily fabricated in the laboratory via 3D printing with a low cost. The feasibility of 3D printing to fabricate this device was investigated by offline separation of commercial protein standards. And a better separation efficiency was found when using gel tubes printed with higher printing precision. As a proof-of-concept, the performance of the whole system is demonstrated by online separation and detection of both iodinated protein standards and proteins in rat blood plasma samples. Benefits from 3D printing, customized modification or further optimization can be readily achieved for a better protein separation and detection efficiency.